If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Where to Put Gear?

I tried searching for this kind of info, and maybe I didn't look hard enough, but where do y'all put your gear while you are sleeping? I know I would put foodstuffs and clothing in a hanging bear bag somewhere a little distance from my site, but what about your boots? Where do those go when you take them off as you get in your hammock?

My first thought was the ground under the hammock, so that they would be easily reached and put on before getting out of the hammock. That brought up the problem of "what if it rained?". Where do you put your boots (and change of clothes for the morning) while you sleep during a rainy night?

I put my pack in the pack cover and place it cover side down as the tarp protects from above and the cover from any running water. I place my boots in the packcover on the side of my pack. I have a large pack cover. Useing just jeffs directions.

I put my boots under my hammock. I don't worry about rain, my tarp takes care of that and unless it's a flood, only the soles of my boots are getting wet from run-off. Extra clothing is in a stuff sack that is used as a neck roll in the hammock. If it looks like rain, my pack is clipped to my suspension covered by the tarp. If I'm using one of my little tarps, pack stays wrapped in my Packa for the night.

I carry a 55 gal, 3mil thick trash bag on the webbing pocket of my backpack.

If the weather looks bad...everything that I'm worried about goes inside the pack, and/or inside that bag. It's then turned upside down with the opening to the bag twisted shut and underneath it all. That all sits under my hammock, under my hex tarp.

Small Tyvek groundcloth goes under the hammock, boots go there. If it's dry I hang my pack from the tree at the head end of the hammock, if wet it's on the tyvek with my footwear. I've hung in DOWNPOURS and my stuff stayed dry this way. Sideways driving rain might be a different story, so I'm going to try out Owl's idea with 55-gallon 3mil bags which I have a box of......

Small Tyvek groundcloth goes under the hammock, boots go there. If it's dry I hang my pack from the tree at the head end of the hammock, if wet it's on the tyvek with my footwear. I've hung in DOWNPOURS and my stuff stayed dry this way. Sideways driving rain might be a different story, so I'm going to try out Owl's idea with 55-gallon 3mil bags which I have a box of......

It's worked like a charm for me, even in my pre-hanging days.

When I was active duty (deployed or camping either way) I always put a trash bag INSIDE my rucksack as a dry bag, with everything going inside of that...and then one on the OUTSIDE if the weather was horrible. Works in monsoons and hurricanes as long as nothing punctures the bags. Even then, it limits the damage.

Now I just use one, since the bag is almost always under my tarp when the bad stuff hits.